Did my email bounce, or was it refused?
Short answer: a bounce means the address cannot receive mail, because the mailbox or the domain does not exist. A refusal means a provider or the receiving server would not take this message at this moment, and the address may be perfectly fine. WarmySender stops mailing a bounced address everywhere in your workspace. A refused contact only stops in that one campaign, is not added to your Blocklist and is not marked as bounced.
WarmySender runs your outreach on autopilot with AI agents, on every channel. Your agent can help you read what happened, but it never sends a message itself and can never raise a limit. The scheduler paces every send within safe limits, no matter who is driving.
What does each notice mean?
| What the notice says | What it means | What WarmySender does |
|---|---|---|
| The address was not found, or the domain does not exist | Bounce. The address cannot receive mail. | Marks the contact as bounced, adds the address to your Blocklist and stops mailing it everywhere in your workspace. |
| Google’s own notice: “Message rejected”, with a link to its help page | Refusal. Google would not take this message. The notice does not say why, and we will not guess. | Stops this person in this campaign only. No Blocklist entry and no bounced mark. |
| A receiving server’s spam or policy refusal, or a note that the recipient’s inbox is full | Refusal. That server would not take this message right now. The address may be fine. | Stops this person in this campaign only. No Blocklist entry and no bounced mark. |
| A generic failure with no detail, or “account is inactive” or “mailbox disabled” | Unclear. The notice does not tell us enough to know the address is fine. | Treats it as a bounce to stay safe. |
Can refusals pause my campaign?
Yes. Refusals still count toward bounce protection, at the same strength as bounces, so a campaign can pause in Cooldown because of refusals alone. Bounce protection has no off switch.
When refusals caused the pause, the Cooldown banner on the campaign says so and offers Put rejected contacts back. Here is what happens next:
- A person clicks Put rejected contacts back. Those contacts return to the sequence. Nothing is sent automatically.
- The campaign stays in Cooldown until a person clicks Resume.
- After that, the scheduler paces every send within the same safe limits. No limit changes.
For the bounce limit itself and how the pause is measured, see why did my campaign pause for bounces?
What should I do after a refusal?
Do these before you click Resume. They are sensible steps, not a guaranteed fix, because the provider decides what it accepts.
- Send less from each mailbox for a while.
- Ask the provider. On Google Workspace, that means your Workspace admin.
- Review the message you are sending in the affected steps.
- Make sure your sending domain records are set up.
- Keep the contacts. Do not delete them just because of the refusal.
What does the email verifier say about a refused contact?
A contact that was only refused is not called invalid on that basis. It gets a real check. A result of Valid tells you about the address, and it does not guarantee that a provider will accept your email. See what email verification results mean.
What if Google says I hit my daily sending limit?
That one is about the mailbox, not the contact. When Google says a mailbox has hit its daily sending limit, WarmySender stops sending from that mailbox for 24 hours and shows that on the mailbox. Then it resumes on its own.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a bounce and a refusal?
A bounce means the address cannot receive mail, because the mailbox or domain does not exist. A refusal means a provider or receiving server would not take this message at this moment, and the address may be perfectly fine.
Why did Google refuse my message?
We cannot tell you, because Google does not give the sender the reason in its “Message rejected” notice. We will not guess. Your Google Workspace admin is the right person to ask, and the notice links to Google’s help page.
Should I delete contacts that were refused?
No, not just because of the refusal. The address may be perfectly fine. A refused contact is not marked as bounced and is not added to your Blocklist.
What does Put rejected contacts back do?
It returns those contacts to the sequence. It sends nothing by itself. The campaign stays in Cooldown until a person clicks Resume, and then the scheduler paces every send within the same safe limits.
Can I stop refusals from pausing my campaign?
No. Refusals count toward bounce protection at the same strength as bounces, and bounce protection has no off switch.
The verifier said Valid. Why was my email still refused?
A result of Valid does not guarantee that a provider will accept your email. A refusal can come from the provider or the receiving server even when the address is fine.
Why was a vague failure notice treated as a bounce?
To stay safe. A generic failure with no detail, or a notice such as “account is inactive” or “mailbox disabled”, does not tell us the address is fine, so we treat it as a bounce.
Can my AI agent put contacts back or resume the campaign?
No. Your agent, whether that is Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Codex, OpenClaw, Hermes Agent or any agent that speaks MCP, cannot resume a campaign in Cooldown. A person clicks Put rejected contacts back and a person clicks Resume. An agent never sends a message itself and can never raise a limit.
Related pages
- Why did my campaign pause for bounces? – the Cooldown pause and how to start the campaign again.
- Why a prospect was marked as bounced – what happens to one contact after a bounce.
- Why are my campaign emails being rejected? – your own sending provider compared with the recipient’s inbox.
- How to see emails that didn’t get delivered – where to find the recipients whose email did not land.
- What email verification results mean – Valid, Invalid, Risky and Unknown.
Still stuck? Open a ticket at warmysender.com/support with the campaign name and the notice you received.